Mayor Mamdani pitches Trump on housing plan, marks meeting with mocked-up Daily News front page

Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News on Feb 26, 2026

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Mayor Zohran Mamdani presented President Donald Trump with a pitch to build 12,000 housing units in New York City at a White House sit-down Thursday, marking the moment with a chummy picture of the pair in the Oval Office featuring Trump clutching a fake Daily News front page and smiling ear-to-ear.

“I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon,” Mamdani said in the post. “I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City.”

Mamdani press secretary Joe Calvello said that at the mayor’s last meeting with the president, Trump asked him to “come back with some big ideas” about building in housing in the five boroughs.

“That’s what he did today. The mayor took him up on this offer and went to D.C. today to pitch him about a possible project in New York City that could deliver one of the biggest federal investments in housing of the past 50 years,” Calvello said. “… The President was very enthusiastic about this idea.”

Mamdani’s pitch was to build 12,000 affordable apartments at Sunnyside Yards, a source familiar told the Daily News. That plan was first unveiled by the city’s Economic Development Corporation in 2020 and was estimated to cost $14.4 billion at the time. The meeting was unannounced and did not appear on the mayor’s public schedule, but on the books since at least Tuesday, he said.

Shortly after the meeting, Mamdani posted the picture of them both. In his left hand, Trump held the famous 1975 front page reading “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” published after President Gerald Ford refused to bail out New York City.

In his right hand, the president held a fake front page of the News reading “Trump to City: Let’s Build.”

In smaller type, the page reads “Backs New Era of Housing;” “Trump Delivers 12,000+ Homes;” “Most Since 1973.”

The mock pages were printed by Mamdani’s team and presented to the president, Calvello said.

Trump and the mayor first met in November, shortly after Mamdani’s general election victory. The meeting was surprisingly cordial: Despite their many political disagreements, Trump spoke glowingly of the then-mayor-elect and said he’d be “cheering” for him.

Since that meeting, the two have stayed in contact, including over text. In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump again praised Mamdani, though with a caveat.

“I speak to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy,” Trump said Tuesday.

The mayor traveled to Washington, D.C. on Thursday morning. The D.C. meeting, and the mayor’s travel, was not advised and did not appear on his public schedule.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

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